- Thread starter rrman61
- Start date
jon f mn
Well-known Member
White oak is best of you can get it and want to spend the money. Otherwise what ever line is available at your local lumber yard is good for many years. I wouldn't waste money on treated lumber as I've had a lot worse luck and seen shorter life from that than standard pine.
DoubleO7
Well-known Member
- Location
- Crystal River, FL
if you do not want the readily available treated pine 2x? lumber, you will have to check out a couple of local saw mills.
See what they got or can get that would be appropriate.
White oak would be good but maybe not abundant or even available in your area.
See what they got or can get that would be appropriate.
White oak would be good but maybe not abundant or even available in your area.
Mutt and Jeff
Member
I think the choice becomes "regional" and depends on what is available, or prefered in your "neck of the woods"
Brian G. NY
Well-known Member
Larch (Tamarack) is supposed to be good for bridges and wagon decks.
Steve@Advance
Well-known Member
Most use pressure treated lumber.
If you use the pressure treated, it will need to be bolted down as soon as you buy it.
Once the bundle is broken, and it starts drying out, it will warp and shrink. Helps to keep it out of the sun and wrapped up if possible. If you can get it bolted down before that happens, all the better.
Also look at the end grain. You want to put the crown side up so water runs off instead of getting trapped inside the board.
If you use the pressure treated, it will need to be bolted down as soon as you buy it.
Once the bundle is broken, and it starts drying out, it will warp and shrink. Helps to keep it out of the sun and wrapped up if possible. If you can get it bolted down before that happens, all the better.
Also look at the end grain. You want to put the crown side up so water runs off instead of getting trapped inside the board.
Crazy Horse
Well-known Member
Steve ...... interesting comment about the crown up .... if it appears noticeably up when you decide which side is up. If not apparent, the annual rings curve is usually the way to tell for flat boards, ie annual rings crown up (according to some references I have read). But either way doesn't always end up being the end result you want ...... sometimes it works out and other times not. I've had unwanted cupping after putting the crown up and also the annual rings up. For whatever reason, it's a good rule of thumb but not bulletproof in my experience. The warping you mention is for sure an issue, shrinkage I find will happen regardless. Starting with the boards at say 1/8" spacing will end up with 1/4" space or sometimes even more.
My friend has built hundreds of house decks as a business. Once he decides which side is "up", he often cuts a saw kerf (slot) lengthwise on a table saw about 1/2 the thickness of the board (so say 3/4" deep on 1 1/2" lumber decking). His kerf is centered on the board and then he installs saw kerf down. Not necessary on 2x4 decks but he does it on 2x6 jobs. Once he nails or screws those deck boards down, they stay flat and have a tendency to stay flat and not cup. On a trailer deck, I suspect mud and moisture being flung up from underneath might be a bit of an issue with a saw kerf.
My friend has built hundreds of house decks as a business. Once he decides which side is "up", he often cuts a saw kerf (slot) lengthwise on a table saw about 1/2 the thickness of the board (so say 3/4" deep on 1 1/2" lumber decking). His kerf is centered on the board and then he installs saw kerf down. Not necessary on 2x4 decks but he does it on 2x6 jobs. Once he nails or screws those deck boards down, they stay flat and have a tendency to stay flat and not cup. On a trailer deck, I suspect mud and moisture being flung up from underneath might be a bit of an issue with a saw kerf.
Oil mixed with diesel does not make a mess on trailer deck, once it dries after application on a sunny day it looks like a dark stain that?s been applied to lumber and repels the water, and it does not leave a messy deck if done right with diesel mixture, I?ve used the method for many years on several trailers I?ve aquired
john in la
Well-known Member
You can buy the expensive Apitong or get rough sawed oak. But since you do not haul track equipment it may be a waste of money.
If it were me I would call Louisiana Treated Lumber in Sorrento, LA.
They treat southern pine the old fashion way with CCA to 0.80 as they specialize in wood for marine decks.
Tell the guy what you will use the wood for and he can recommend what you need.
I think pine treated to 0.60 with CCA will outlast your kids.
If it were me I would call Louisiana Treated Lumber in Sorrento, LA.
They treat southern pine the old fashion way with CCA to 0.80 as they specialize in wood for marine decks.
Tell the guy what you will use the wood for and he can recommend what you need.
I think pine treated to 0.60 with CCA will outlast your kids.
rustyfarmall
Well-known Member
Pressure treated. Soak it good with used motor oil once per year and it will last forever.
That is me as well. If in working on something on trailer and oil gets on deck it makes a mess that lasts and lasts. Just plain old pressure treated pine or even untreated lumber yard material. Think my brand new 2015 trailer was untreated just with a half coat of black paint.
Crazy Horse
Well-known Member
Almost 50 years ago I bought a picnic table "kit" at a local yard, it was on sale at a good price and was yellow pine. Never heard of it, not from this area, I have no idea where yellow pine grows. Eventually about ten years ago I built a new one but the yellow pine wood was still good and almost like new when I dismantled the old one and I have several pieces of it here and there around the place that have used for something else. It seemed quite hard compared to regular pine that I was a bit familiar with, sort of like fir maybe. No rotting or splitting etc. at all.
john in la
Well-known Member
CCA Chromated copper arsenate is the green tint treatment that modern power poles and water side docks use.
It use to be the way all wood was treated before 2004 when a voluntary ban was put on it for residential use.
It is way better than the modern way of treating wood.
It use to be the way all wood was treated before 2004 when a voluntary ban was put on it for residential use.
It is way better than the modern way of treating wood.
Steve@Advance
Well-known Member
The crown up, what I understand about it is not so much about the way the board cups, but where the water goes that soaks in. If the crown is down, the water tends to pool internally in the soft (light color) tissue as it can't drain through the hard (darker color) grain. Depends also what part of the trunk the board was cut. If the end grain is perpendicular to the face of the board, it doesn't make much if any difference.
I like the saw cut on the bottom side! Good idea, I'll have to remember that!
I like the saw cut on the bottom side! Good idea, I'll have to remember that!
yellow pine grows in the southern states--a lot of Georgia. it is the preferred structural timber in the north east mainly for marine structures. I have designed numerous docks,bukheads,wharfs and such with it. It comes in various grades, and each grade has an allowable stress on it. It pressure treats very well and can take up to 2.5 lbs CCA or up to 20 lbs creoste.
Stephen Newell
Well-known Member
I like pressure treated. You coat it with any preservative and it will never wear out.
I agree, red elm would be the best. It's tough and lighter than white oak. When I had a sawmill the local excavating company would come out and buy all the red elm I would have on hand. They liked it because their tracked machines wouldn't chew it apart like oak would. They also used it for the top board on their dump trucks. It would bend under the pressure and not break. Even the best loader operator will run into the top board once in a while. The red elm would hold up under these conditions.
I have a friend that would spray used motor oil on his wooden hay wagons at the end of summer. The following summer by the time you had the third load of hay to unload you couldn't stay on your feet. I finally threw a bunch of barn lime on the wagon floor so I could have a little traction.
caterpillar guy
Well-known Member
Walnut would also be about as good as white oak.
Texasmark1
Well-known Member
My 16' tandem came 40 years ago with Southern Yellow Pine, untreated, unpainted 2x10s. Somewhere along the line, 10-15 years some developed soft spots. I went to HD and bought 2x6 treated 2x4s, treated for obvious reasons and that size as they were much cheaper than the prior size.
Over the years, maybe twice, I swabbed with old oil. Trailer sits out in the weather with tires protected from the sun. Hauled a 4000# new to me tractor home last month with zero groaning from the floor. Wood is old enough now that it is reluctant to accept the tip of my knife when I try to check for soft spots.....petrified ????????
Over the years, maybe twice, I swabbed with old oil. Trailer sits out in the weather with tires protected from the sun. Hauled a 4000# new to me tractor home last month with zero groaning from the floor. Wood is old enough now that it is reluctant to accept the tip of my knife when I try to check for soft spots.....petrified ????????
rustyfarmall
Well-known Member
The wooden floor of a hay wagon will get very slick. It is the nature of the beast. The oil has nothing to do with it.
Kansasredneck
Member
I have found the cupping is the result of the wood being too damp when installed. Exposure dries out the top, and just like treated boards left out, the part exposed to the sun longest tends to shrink the most. I wonder if dismounting the boards and flipping them would make a difference? Never bothered to try it though.
I put a deck on my highboy about twenty years ago. had a stack of miserable warped 2X10s. Used a couple of clamps to get them bent into place. Used it for ten years hauling a PC-40 excavator and no problems. Still haul the skid steers with it.
I put a deck on my highboy about twenty years ago. had a stack of miserable warped 2X10s. Used a couple of clamps to get them bent into place. Used it for ten years hauling a PC-40 excavator and no problems. Still haul the skid steers with it.
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